Protector of the Breed
by Danyella Skyler Silverfire
Summary: Xander attracts the weirdest women. Seriously.


**Title:** Protector of the Breed  
**Fandom:** Buffy: the Vampire Slayer  
**Author:** Danyella Skyler Silverfire  
**Website:** Livejournal, or  
**Rating:** PG  
**Genre(s):** General  
**Pairing(s):** Xander/OC  
**Summary:** Xander attracts the weirdest women. Seriously.  
**Warnings:** Alusions of abuse.  
**Disclaimer:** Checks reality meter (It's remarkably Magic Eight Ball shaped). shakeshake Do I own BtVS? Nope still the right reality. Go eat a tuna sandwich instead. stares Damn.  
**Word Count:** 3,691

Protector of the Breed

Xander sighed in relief as he sat down in the booth at the small caf down the street from the Fabulous Ladies Night Club. It had been a long night, but thankfully his shift in the kitchen was finally over. Looking curiously around at the other few patrons of the caf's three AM crowd he found his eye being drawn towards a quiet brunette girl sitting huddled at the counter.

It wasn't just the vibrant scarlet streaks in the her jet black hair that drew his eye. There was something... off about her. Frowning slightly Xander watched the girl out of the corner of his eye, being carefully not to stare for to long.

When the waitress had just left after dropping off his order he finally placed at least some of what was bothering him about her. It was as if she was supposed to be bigger than her body. Xander felt a shiver go up his spine at that. He had run into a few things over the last three years that gave off the feel that the form they wore wasn't what they're supposed to look like, and in every case it had been bad.

Careful not to draw attention to himself he kept an eye on her, but was careful not to act any different than he had any night the last two weeks. After he finished Xander quietly paid and left all the while feeling jumpy. He was going to have to break out the weapons now, but he hoped it was just paranoia.

OOO

Over the next week Xander saw the girl around, mostly at the caf where she had gotten a job, but sometimes at the club. Under closer observation Xander saw the vaguely hunted look she sometimes got. That and a few other things reminded Xander strongly of not necessarily Faith, but some of the kids back in Sunnydale. Those kids tended to disappear, though he knew for a fact that not all of them were killed. One he had even escorted to the bus station when he had caught them running away while on patrol one night. He knew enough about their home life to know they had a very good reason for running.

After figuring out the look, Xander started keeping a closer eye on her, though now to try and look out for her, rather than to see if she was a threat. He watched and he saw. He watched as she would shrink a little whenever someone raised their voice around her unexpectedly - and he saw her catch herself and straighten a little. He watched as her hands shook like a junkie at times - he saw it get worse whenever a man got to close for to long. He watched as she warily eyed the world around her with desperate eyes - and he saw when she noticed him watching.

Meeting her eyes calmly he just met her eyes stare for stare. In her eyes he saw her Otherness more clearly than he ever had in the last week. Tilting his head slightly he saw her eyes widen then she abruptly turned and went back to her work, although now with a jerkiness that hadn't been there before.

OOO

Xander lay on his back on top of a picnic table enjoying the quiet sunny afternoon. One of the things that had surprised him about being outside of Sunnydale was the surprising lack of people enjoying parks. Back in Sunnydale people actually spent a great deal of time outside during the day. Embarrassingly it had taken him over a week to figure out why that was. In Sunnydale everyone subconsciously knew that it was to dangerous to be out at night if they could help it, so they would try to enjoy being outside as much as possible. Outside of the quiet desperation that made up Sunnydale people these days spent all their time indoors, not enjoying some of the beautiful parks he found.

Turning over onto his stomach Xander stretched slightly before starting to hum along with the music coming from the earphones hanging around his neck.

"E-excuse me?" a hesitant voice asked, in a soft southern drawl from a little way's off.

Lifting his head Xander saw the caf-girl standing on the path a few feet away looking a hesitantly determined. "'Sup?" Xander asked as he sat up to face her.

"I... can we t-talk?" she stuttered slightly, but he noticed that she was determined to be strong.

"Pull up some bench." Xander gestured to the rest of the picnic table. "Sarah right?"

"Y-ye..." She trailed off as she saw something in his steady gaze. Finding her voice again she spoke again, though barely above a whisper now, "No... Celeste."

Giving her a slight smile of encouragement he decided to return the curtsy she had shown and give her his preferred name, rather than the Alex he had been going by. "Well I'm Xander. So you wanted to say something?"

Celeste nodded slightly before resolutely stiffening her spine. "W-why have you been watching me?"

"I wanted to know if you were dangerous." Xander shrugged. "Maybe figure out what you are, but I was willing to settle for the first objective."

"W-was?"

"Your not dangerous. Scared, running, but not dangerous." Xander shrugged.

"How did you... know?" Celeste asked carefully.

"Know?" Xander frowned in confusion.

"That I'm not... normal?"

"You mean not human?" Xander smiled slightly at the jolt she gave at his words. "Just a... sense of you being too big for your body. Physically to big." Xander shrugged. "I still have no idea what you really are, but you're no more dangerous than any other run away."

"Y-you could tell?" she asked in surprise.

"I've been around things that look human, but aren't my entire life. And now that I'm out of Sunnydale I seem to be really good at telling if someone even has a strong magic talent, let alone aren't human."

Celeste nodded slowly. "I... I'm a..." She stuttered and stopped several times obviously struggling to force out what she wanted to say.

"Hey, it's cool. You don't have to say anything. I don't really care so long as you don't eat people or their pets. 'Cause seriously - some pets people keep-" Xander shuddered dramatically. "-really not appetizing."

Celeste giggled at that before drawing a deep breath rushing out, "I'm a dragon."

Xander raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Huh. That's something I hadn't seen before. I assume you shapeshift?" At her hesitant nod Xander thought it over before shrugging. "Well whatever works. Look, Celeste, you don't have to or anything, but if you ever want to tell anyone why you're running, I'm a good listener." Xander offered.

"I... thank you, Xander." Celeste gave him another shy smile. "Why are you out here?"

"Enjoying the day. I go on shift in a few hours, but for right now I'm just enjoying the quiet. Although, question: if you're so afraid of men, why do you keep coming to the club?"

"I... I'm drawn to the men. Not to eat but..." she stopped obviously grasping for an explanation.

"A dragon thing?" Xander prompted.

"Yes. A dragon thing. I'm a Breeder."

"Well I could hear the caps on that one." Xander quipped.

"...It's hard to explain."

"You're a fertile female dragon who's entering her 'season' part of her cycle and is instinctively looking for a prospective mate?" Xander asked.

"Exactly! How did you know?" Celeste asked in surprise.

"I'm familiar enough with demons that it seemed like a plausible enough explanation. Actually the better of about four... no five reasons I've seen a non-human displaying the symptoms I noticed along with you're saying you're being drawn to men." Xander shrugged. "I'm actually hoping it's just that one and not combined with any of the others."

Celeste relaxed even more at his explanation. "A Breeder like me is a fertile dragon with good bloodlines, but a malleable disposition."

"A beta?"

"Not quite, Breeders are expected to, if not forced to breed. We're supposed to not only bear the young, but also to see to the care and early education of the crche."

"Sounds... kinda bad from a human standpoint with the forcing. Although 'crche'? You keep your young together."

She nodded giving him a pleased smile. "It's safer."

"I can see that."

"I... ran... from the eyrie that I was - there no direct translation for the word. I was married-traded-sold-given to the them."

Xander nodded slowly, "And the new 'eyrie' wasn't very nice."

Celeste shook her head vehemently, "They don't treat their Breeders very well. Especially the... alliance brides."

"So you ran."

"With the help of the crche mother. That's the oldest of the Breeders, well past her fertile time."

"Kinda the grandmother huh?"

"Exactly. She helped me escape before my first cycle."

"If your so important won't they be looking for you?" Xander asked.

"Yes, but their pride won't let them admit that they couldn't keep me, so they will have to do it on their own. But now... I hadn't expected to start my cycle so soon."

"That's bad?"

"It makes it a great deal easier to find me. I had hoped to find a safe place before then."

"Is there a way to stop it?"

"Only one." Celeste ducked her head allowing her long hair to cover her face.

Xander frowned in thought before offering, "I can maybe help you find a safe place. What would you need?"

"Someplace holy. The older the better. It would hide me from others of my kind."

"I'll see what I can find, it'll take a few days though. For now I need to go get something to eat before work." Xander slid off the table and grabbed his coat and backpack. "I'll see you later okay?"

"Thank you."

"No problem." Xander gave her a smile before turning and walking off. He only got a few yards before he turned and called back, "Hey, Celeste? What did you see in my eyes a few days ago that made you talk to me?"

"A Protector." She replied before hurrying off in another direction.

"Well that was cryptic." Xander shook his head and heading off to his hotel room.

OOO

Xander opened his door groggily and was surprised to find Celeste standing there. "Celeste? I thought you already left."

"I'm going tomorrow. I... can I come in?"

"Wha? Sure. Sorry I was sleeping." Xander stood back and closed the door once she was inside.

Celeste looked around nervously, very careful to keep her eyes off him. "I... I wanted to thank you again for helping me."

"Hey, it's no problem." Xander plopped down on his bed and ran his hands over his face. "I'm thinking that's not the only reason you're here."

"A-are you still going back to Sunnydale?"

"Yeah. I've tried normal... well normal enough. I don't think it suits me." Xander snorted slightly. "Actually I think normal people scare me."

Celeste nodded before taking a deep breath and finally just blurting out her reason for coming, "I want you to get me pregnant."

"What?" Xander gave her a shocked look before pinching himself hard on the arm and yelping at the resulting pain. "Celeste..."

"No, I've thought it through. I'm going to go into hiding, and you're going back to the hellmouth to protect it. I... I want to do this for you. I-if you were a dragon, you would have been encouraged to breed so you're genes wouldn't get lost. I-I think that you've proven yourself to be more of a dragon than my old eyrie. Let me be you're Breeder."

Xander tried to speak for several long minutes before finally managing, "I can't fly."

"There are ways. Humans have breed with us before and I want his. Please Xander, let me do this for you. There is a very good chance that you will die after you go back. This might be your only chance."

Xander lowered his head and ran his hand through his hair as he thought over her proposition. It was the least he could do, to take her seriously. "I can't say that you're wrong." Sighing heavily he looked up, "Fine. I would be honored to have you as the mother of what will probably be my only child."

"Thank you Xander." Celeste gave him a brilliant smile that lit up her entire face.

"So how are we going to do this?" Xander asked straightening up.

Celeste climbed into his lap and cupped his face between her long fingered hands. "Just... fly with me."

Xander found himself drawn elsewhere where he found himself facing a black dragon with red stripes facing him. "How...?"

"You cannot fly with me physically, but here your spirit can fly." The dragon, Celeste answered.

Xander looked down at himself and saw himself changing. When it finished he looked over what he could see of himself and found he was a dark brown with black strips and the occasional dark gold (the gold almost black but still keeping the shine when light struck it) spot patterning his hide. Turning his head back around to Celeste he raised his wings slightly and gave the equivalent of a grin, "Show me how to fly."

Seven Years Later

Xander climbed out of his rental car and looked around the quiet yard of the isolated house. Spotting what had to be Celeste's car he walked up to the porch only to stop when he heard something growling beneath it. Carefully he crouched down and peered underneath trying to spot what it was.

He knew it wasn't a dog, more than familiar with the sound of their growls after having dealt with several Slayer's and Watchers pets over the last year.

"Xander?" a familiar voice asked before he heard the sound of the porch door opening.

Not looking up Xander kept a careful eye on the shadowy outline he could vaguely see. "Hey Celeste. You wanted to see me?"

"What are you...? Celindra!" Celeste rushed down the stairs and looked under the porch next to Xander. "Get out from under there right now young lady!"

The growl cut off into a low whine and slowly a small black and dark gold dragon inched out from underneath the porch. Reaching down Celeste scooped up the hatchling and straightened up.

"So this is Celindra?" Xander asked eyeing the patterning on that he could see. The combination of stripes and spots he recognized from the form that his spirit had taken that night. Though not in the same pattern as his own, it was still quite striking; especially since the gold was the same shade as his own had been.

"Yes. Celindra, this if your father, Xander." Celeste introduced giving the dragon an encouraging smile. "I'm sorry, she's been having trouble holding a form for the last couple years. Ever since... I..."

"Look I'm here for at least a week okay." Xander gently interrupted. "For now why don't you let me take this little beauty, and let you get back to what you were doing?"

Celeste gave him a grateful smile and carefully transferred Celindra over to Xander. "Thank you for understanding."

"No problem." Xander followed Celeste into the small house and took in the quiet lived in look the place had. "Where's her room? We can play for a little while."

"Down the hall. First door on the left." Celeste gave him a last smile before returning to the kitchen.

"Well then Celindra, why don't we go see what toy's you have." Xander said looking down into wide brown eyes.

OOO

Xander woke up the next morning to wide brown eyes staring at him, though this time it was from a human face. "Celindra?" Xander asked groggily eying the little girl.

"Are you really my daddy?" she asked with an expression on her face so serious that he had to keep himself from laughing.

"Yes I am."

"But your human." She insisted stubbornly.

"How could you tell." Xander asked curious.

"You feel human." Celindra eyed him for another moment before climbing up onto the bed with him. "Mommy's sick."

Xander jolted at that. "She is?"

Celindra nodded solemnly. "Uh-huh."

Xander sat up and hugged his daughter. "What do you want to do today?"

"Can I play with the dog?"

Xander frowned down at her in confusion, "What dog?"

"That one." Celindra pointed to under the desk.

Looking over Xander couldn't see anything but after a moment suddenly felt a shiver run up his spine as he shifted his sight to where he could see the spirit plane as the shaman he traveled with taught him. There sitting in the cave formed by the desk lay his spirit guide, Niara. "You can see her?"

"Uh-huh." Celindra nodded and looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "Can I?"

"I don't know..." Xander turned his eyes back to the watching hyena before admitting defeat. "If you don't mind?"

Niara gave an amused chuckle before standing and walking casually over to the bed and eyeing Celindra and Xander. Let the cub play. I'll guard her.

"I guess that's a yes then. Celindra this is my spirit guide Niara, she's a hyena, do what she says alright?" Xander ordered sternly.

"Okay." Celindra gave him a quick hug before jumping down and running out of the room with Niara following behind.

OOO

Xander sat drinking his second cup of coffee and watching Celeste wash the dishes from breakfast. "Celeste? Celindra told me something earlier."

"Oh? What's that?" she asked looking over her shoulder at him.

"She said you're sick."

Celeste froze for a minute before turning back to the dishes. "I am."

"How bad."

"I'm going to die."

Xander stared down into his coffee cup blankly as he digested the news. "What is it?"

"A curse. The eyrie I ran from cursed me to either return or die. I wouldn't have even known if Celindra hadn't seen the curse. I had it looked at by a witch I know and trust. He said the only way to break it is to go back." Celeste paused before finishing in a steely tone. "I won't go back. Ever. Especially not with Celindra."

"What are you going to do about Celindra?" Xander asked softly.

"I was hoping you would take her. If you were a dragon you would defiantly take her. But you're not, so you have a choice."

Xander paused slightly before nodding. "I'll take her. I don't know how it'll work because at the moment my job is to find Slayers, but I'll work out something. Maybe take up a teaching position."

"You will do a good job. You're a good man Xander."

There was silence except for the ticking of the kitchen clock for several long minutes before Xander asked softly, "How much longer do you have?"

"Six months."

Xander nodded quietly before getting up and leaving the kitchen. He had things to think about and arrange.

OOO

Xander grinned as he carried an absolutely filthy, but happily giggling little girl into the bathroom. "Let's get you clean my treasure. You need to look good for dinner."

"Daddy!" Celindra giggled harder as Xander tickled her briefly before setting her down on the floor.

Xander grinned as he started to get the bath ready, "Call me if you need anything okay?"

"Okay daddy." Celindra grinned and waved at him as he closed the bathroom door partially behind him.

OOO

Later that night after Celindra was happily in bed cuddling a patient Niara Xander cornered Celeste in the living room. "Celeste?"

"Xander?" she looked up at him in confusion.

"I noticed Celindra has a mole I'm unfortunately familiar with."

"Her mole?" Celeste asked confused.

"Slayers have that mark Celeste."

"But Celindra is a dragon. Slayers are human."

"I'm human Celeste, remember." Xander shrugged uncomfortably, "My mom's was a potential that got called with all the others. My dad's mom was a potential. The old council bred them together to increase the chances of them or their grandkids being a potential. Hell it would have a great-grandkid at the latest."

Celeste paled in shock at his words. "I-I didn't know."

Xander grimaced, "Neither did I until I saw my mom in LA after Sunnydale fell and found out she had been called as well."

"I-is she..."

"She's fine. She's happily running the Slayer house in LA actually." Xander shrugged. "Look, this doesn't change anything. She's still my daughter. I love her, I'm just more worried about her now." Xander rolled his eyes. "I hadn't even known that was possible."

Celeste gave him a tentative smile. "You'll do a good job with her. I just wish..."

"Don't we all." Xander gave her a sad smile as he sat down on the couch next to her and let her cry on him.

OOO

Celindra bounced in her seat as she eagerly looked out the window at the Cleveland Main Slayer House they were approaching. The drive from Oregon had been long with the three of them stuck in a car together, but it had been a good trip overall.

"Here we are Slayer central for Cleveland."

"Why do they call it Cleveland? Was the land cut in two?" Celindra asked with a frown.

"I have no idea. We can look it up later. What do you think Celeste?"

"It's very... big."

"It kinda had to be. It not only has to hold the Slayers and Watchers for Cleveland, but also the library, armory, and groups passing through. We have our own garden, pool, smithy, dojo, training grounds, and various other things. We ended up buying not only the old Catholic school, but some of the surrounding properties and merging them together and walling it off." Xander explained proudly.

"Wow. That must have been expensive." Celeste said softly.

"Very. Luckily we had not only the Council's money to do things like this, but also the money of most of the Watchers that were killed. And a surprising amount of them were independently wealthy. I'm just thankful that I got to miss out on the migraine that was untangling the finances so we could use them."

OOO

**Author's Notes:** Okay I was happily reading some fanfics (that weren't even in the Buffy fandom) and got smacked upside the head with a 2X4 wielding plotbunny. The initial thought was of Xander dealing with a Celindra. A slayer that before the spell would never, ever have been chosen - a half dragon, half human slayer that has a problem sticking to one form. She keeps switching when highly emotional, especially when scared. Then thinking it over I had to figure out where she came from. So I came up with Celeste.  
Anyway I decided to use the thought I had a couple years back that I'll probably end up using in a lot of fanfics of Xander's mom Jessica having been a Council raised Slayer, and when she went over the age of any chance of her being chosen they married her off to Tony, who was the son or grandson of another potential. As to them living in Sunnydale, that has to do with the Council would most likely have put potential slayers near hotspots so they could get there easily.  
Now Sunnydale they knew was a hotspot, however they did not know that it was a hellmouth according to the first season DVD's I own. Angel had to tell Buffy, who told Giles, who would have told the Council.  
Now Xander if he had been born a girl with my thought on his parents would most likely have been a potential himself, and if not him than any girl he fathered would like have been.  
**About this 'verse's dragons:** They are shapeshifters that live not necessarily all in the same building, but still pretty close together. A group of dragons are called an eyrie. They are led by both a Matriarch, and Patriarch, though each has different duties to the eyrie. The Matriarch and Patriarch don't have to be mated - actually usually they are not.  
There are Enforcers who enforce not only the eyrie laws. The name is actually rather self explanatory. Not much else to say about them other than they tend to be more aggressive then the normal dragon.  
Breeders are fertile, but submissive dragons of good bloodlines used sometimes to keep certain bloodlines around until they produce an alpha, or to mix certain bloodlines on a more controlled basis. Breeders are also in charge of the crche where all the eyrie young are born and spend the early years of their life in, but are also responsible for the early education of the hatchlings.  
Because of them having Breeders the dragons actually have next to no cultural taboos on sexuality. They care little over who you choose to mate with when they have ready access to Breeders to carry on bloodlines. Breeders are actually very rarely taken as a mate, and using a Breeder is not seen as cheating while propagating young.  
**On the markings:** This particular kind of dragon are not solid colored. They have markings, usually stripes reminiscent of a tigers, although they sometimes have snake or even orca like patterns. The reason for this is the same as any other patterned creature: to try and break up their body outline, therefore making them harder to spot. Although cases like Celeste having the duel colored hair as a human are actually semi rare, before the '70's they would dye their hair to disguise it.  
**On Celeste's old eyrie:** The eyrie that Celeste ran from was very bad, especially for Breeders. In fact if the other eyries found out not only did they have a Breeder run, but one that was an alliance bride they would have all their Breeder's and hatchlings taken from them and would be either disbanded at least, or executed at most in punishment. So they would try to keep it very quiet, not even calling for help outside the eyrie for help for fear of being found out.  
**On Celeste calling Xander a Protector:** The dragons have a philosophy that Celeste ascribes to. According to the philosophy there are only two kinds of people: Protectors and Defenders. A Defender is someone who will protect something but only as far as is reasonable, after a certain point they'll cut their losses. A Protector on the other hand is something much more dangerous. For what they consider worth it a Protector will be fanatical in protecting what they consider worth it. Think of a mother protecting her young and you get the idea. They will give their life for just the chance that they'll succeed in doing at least some damage, and sometimes even knowing they won't.  
Also according to the philosophy all creatures have the leanings towards both, however there is one that you primarily are. The only real difference between Defenders and Protectors is that a Defender will give everything for very few things and then only if they have a personal investment, and just do what they can for anything else. It's not a bad or a good thing really to be either, and every Defender can become a Protector and visa versa.


End file.
